WHY THE TALK IS INSPIRING?

Landscape is malleable – it has been reshaped and reformed relentlessly over centuries, resulting in – for good and bad – the imprints and legacies of mankind we now contend with. The expanding digital realm offers endless opportunity for new architectures not dependent upon the damage, limitations, economies, or boundaries old-fashioned physicality is limited by – a literal utopia. But such digital imaginaries are inextricably linked to analogue realities, and as we visualise and tiptoe into the cybernetic picturesque, perhaps we should learn from how the original picturesque framed, concealed, and violently compressed reality to suit somebody else’s vision.


Recommended book

THE INVENTION OF THE PARK

Karen R. Jones, John Wills

The Invention of the Park explores our fascination with making parks. In a broad-ranging environmental and social history, authors Karen Jones and John Wills search for a common set of ideas that inform park design. From Greek philosophers wandering sacred groves in the ancient world to today’s kids watching Mickey Mouse in Disney’s Magic Kingdom, the park has inspired and thrilled in equal measure. In a work spanning all five continents and several thousand years, Jones and Wills chart the evolution of the park idea.